Grandville buys new school vans through state's buy local program

The Grandville Board of Education on Monday approved purchasing two new vans for the food service department for $56,905.

Grandville Public School leaders have purchased two new vans for the food service department.

The Board of Education on Monday approved spending $56,905 on two 2012 Ford E-350 cutaway box vans. They will replace one 1995 van and one 1997 van that currently are part of the food service fleet but have become too costly to repair, Superintendent Ron Caniff said.

He said the vans are used to deliver food to the district's elementary schools after the meals are prepared at the central kitchen at the high school. The food service vans also
deliver food products to the schools.

The new vans are being purchased from Grandville-based Borgman Ford through the Michigan Delivering Extended Agreements Locally buying program. The program allows local municipalities and school districts to purchase items from the state's contracts with the same terms, conditions, and prices the state government received.

The program provides local municipalities and school districts access to reduced costs of goods and services and also saves money by eliminating the need for writing specifications, gathering, and awarding bids.

The money for the vans comes from the district's food service fund. The vans are expected to be delivered to the food service department in about eight weeks.